


Fake It Til You Make It

by wlwedi



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-27
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-22 18:59:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13173171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wlwedi/pseuds/wlwedi
Summary: The human Spectres take on a reconnaissance mission as a duo. Undercover. As a couple. Fuck.





	Fake It Til You Make It

“What is this?” Shepard deadpanned, dangling the offending datapad in front of her like it was diseased. Ashley rolled her eyes and snatched it back.

 

“It’s orders for a mission, Shepard. I thought you might be familiar with the format by now?” Ash smirked and scrolled down a little before starting to read out loud. “To Special Tactics and Reconnaissance officers Commander Laura Shepard and Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams. So, that’s us.” She said, pointing between herself and Shepard, who just flipped her the bird.

 

“Keep reading, Williams.” She said, rolling her eyes.

 

“Reconnaissance mission, blah blah, undercover op, blah blah, infiltrate a gala of some rich guy as a couple, blah-“ Ash droned, clearly unimpressed with the assignment. Shepard, however, blanched and snatched the pad back.

 

“Excuse me, as a couple? It says that?” She asked, scrolling furiously, trying to find the lie. Except Ash reached over and highlighted a lined that, yep, said they had to infiltrate the party as a couple. Excellent. As if her feelings for Ash weren’t bad enough already, as if they hadn’t been bad enough since they met back on Eden Prime, pretending that her feelings were fake was going to be quite the feat.

 

She had learned that just not thinking about it made it easier to deal with. It wasn’t always easy, especially not with the LC’s glistening biceps when they worked out together. Especially not when she muttered lines of poetry under her breath in the most endearing way. Especially not when Shepard had to pretend to be her fucking girlfriend.

 

She sighed and handed the pad back to Ash, trying to mask her grimace. “When is this?” She asked, her voice strained.

 

“Two days from now, which gives us just enough time to get there. It was pretty short notice.” Ash said, turning off the pad and turning her full attention to Shepard. Which was not what she needed right now.

 

“Great. Go ahead and tell Joker to get us there.” She said, a little too gruffly, before hightailing it into the elevator and up to her cabin.

 

Shepard spent her time before the mission pouring over tactical reports, crucible schematics, and anything else she could get her hands on to distract her from her impending gay doom. She finally couldn’t avoid it anymore when they arrived on whatever planet the party was on, she hadn’t been paying much attention. She could tell you without looking that wherever it was would be remote enough to stay out of the eyes of the council, but central enough to easily receive shipments of whatever illicit thing this particular asshole used to stay rich.

 

As she zipped up her dress, a sleeveless black number that showed off her muscles just in case someone thought about testing her, she tried to gear herself up for her inevitable crash when the mission was over and she had to go back to being just friends with Ash. She looked in the mirror and shrugged at herself. Between the reapers, Cerberus, and the Crucible, it’s not like there wasn’t plenty to keep her occupied afterwards.

 

“Shepard-“ Ash chimed in over the comm.

 

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” She interrupted, concealing her pistol (you never know) and striding to the elevator. She met Ash in the shuttle bay, and they slipped into the shuttle wordlessly.

 

“So.” Shepard started. “Our cover story? How we met, how long we’ve been together, that shit.”

 

“Got that covered. We met two years ago on the Citadel and the rest is history. I feel like your bullshitting capabilities are strong enough that you can just make it up on the fly while I nod and make heart eyes.” Ash shrugged.

 

“I mean. You’re not wrong. Our cover names?” Shepard asked.

 

“I figured Kasumi already made you a fake identity, why not capitalize on it? So you’ll be reprising your role as Allison Gunn and I’ll play the part of your girlfriend, Laila Whitmore.”

 

“Alright.” Shepard nodded. “Let’s kill the game, then.”

 

“No, Shepard. No killing. This is strictly reconnaissance.” Ashley laughed.

 

“Well not even the reapers can stop me from killing it on the dance floor so we’ll see.” Shepard smirked, proud of her joke even though she knew she didn’t have the dancing skill to back it up.

 

A couple minutes later, the shuttle touched down and Shepard offered Ash her arm. “Miss Whitmore?” Ash hooked her arm through Shepard’s and kissed her on the cheek as the door opened. Shepard cursed her heart for skipping a beat. They strolled into the party, Shepard looking intimidating and Ashley looking like she was having enough fun for the two of them.

 

They made their rounds, Ash charming the guests while Shepard weaseled information out of them with little resistance. It was all going smoothly until Shepard recognized someone. She had forgotten their name but knew if they saw her the jig would be up. She saw them start to turn their way, so she did what she always did, and thought on her feet.

 

Which lead to her grabbing Ash by the waist and kissing her passionately, effectively hiding her face. Ash, as smart as she was, caught on easily and kissed her back in earnest. They separated and Shepard leaned her forehead against Ash’s, which allowed her to survey the room without revealing her face yet.

 

“Sorry about that.” She whispered, and Ash looked- disappointed? That couldn’t be right. It didn’t matter now though, because they had what they came for and all eyes were off them so they could make a clean exit. Shepard stepped back and grabbed Ash’s hand, pulling her gently towards the door. As they passed their illustrious host, Shepard played up her kiss-disheveled appearance as she sheepishly waved and slipped out without having to say goodbye.

 

“Well, that was something.” Shepard said, propping her legs up on the seat across from her when they were safely in their shuttle.

 

“Yeah, that kiss sure was convincing, Commander…” Ash said, a little dazed.

 

“Uh.” Was all Shepard had to say in response.

 

“If you’re going to kiss again, please wait until I’m not in the shuttle.” Cortez pleaded from the front of the shuttle. “But please kiss again, because if you don’t soon, I’ll lose my bet with Mr. Vega and I really can’t stand his gloating. And the mutual pining is getting old.” Ash and Shepard stared at each other, their faces equal parts fear and hope.

 

“Pining? I don’t pine.” Shepard grumbled.

 

“Mutual pining?” Ash asked.

 

“Uh.” Shepard said again, mentally kicking herself. _Fuck it,_ Shepard thought to herself, before pulling Ash close to her and kissing her again, for real this time. She was always better with actions than words anyways.

 

In the cockpit, Cortez smirked and sent Vega comm that just said “Pay up.”

**Author's Note:**

> FOR KATIE!!! Love you, I hope u like it :'-)


End file.
